Residents in a northwest Alabama community said the town's storm shelter remained locked during severe weather last weekend while the man who held the key was watching movies at home, ABC 33/40 reported.
Nauvoo Mayor Dwight Byram said there are two people besides himself who have keys to the storm shelter. As severe weather moved into the area Saturday, one keyholder was out of town and the other had turned in keys days before, ABC 33/40 reported.
That left Byram, who was watching movies instead of cable TV and was unaware of the approaching storms. Residents soon called Byram, who immediately went to unlock the shelter. But by that time, residents told ABC 33/40, it was too late as the storm raged. Ten residents had been waiting outside the shelter.
Byram said he was embarrassed and took responsibility for missing the weather alerts.
“You try to cover everything, but sometimes you get caught where you didn't do it completely right,” Byram told ABC 33/40. “It's my fault because I'm the one where the buck starts and stops, and I'm sorry it happened. We're going to get some more keys out so that if we're out-of-pocket again like that, it won't happen again.”
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